Early job search key for college graduates

It might take more time and persistence to find them, but there are jobs out there for new college graduates, experts say.

"We're hearing that the job market is OK, maybe good, but not great this year," said Thomas Horgan, executive director of the New Hampshire College and University Council. "And there definitely are jobs out there for students, but it's more competitive this year than in the past years."

►High school students stick with what works

Ruth DeCotis, associate director of career services at Plymouth State University, said she noticed more members of the Class of 2008, concerned about the declining economy, started their job searches early. "I think this year we've seen more energy from the students and the need to get on track with their job search," she said.

At the same time, Bethany Cooper, associate director of the University Advising and Career Center at the University of New Hampshire, noticed "companies were really waiting a little longer to make sure whether they had the funds and had the approval to move forward on recruiting."

Alysia Brooks of Manchester, who just graduated from the University of New Hampshire at Manchester, is in the driver’s seat with her new job at Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Manchester, which she started last week. (DAVID LANE)

There are notable exceptions. For graduates with engineering degrees, "I have more jobs than I know what to do with," Cooper said.

Paul DellaGrotte just graduated from Plymouth State University with a finance degree. He started his job search last winter, applying for several positions.

BAE Systems was the "first to call me back, and they were my first choice," he said. He was accepted to a special three-year program that will rotate him through several positions and company locations, while paying for his master's degree. He's currently at the company's facility in Johnson City, N.Y.

"I was very happy about it," he said. "I think I got a little lucky."

Internships key

College grads who expect to find jobs just by posting their resumes online are likely to be disappointed, Cooper said. "I think technology has made students feel they can just go on to a job board, apply for a job and get it, and that just doesn't happen."

Surveys have found 80 percent of jobs are filled through networking, she said. "It's still networking, it's still your experience, and it's still hard work."

And with more employers than ever looking for work experience -- more than three-quarters of companies recently surveyed by the National Association of Colleges and Employers said that's a factor in their hiring decisions -- internships can be key for graduates to land jobs in their chosen fields.

Esteban Lopez is coordinator of the Internships and First Career Jobs initiative, a partnership between the N.H. College and University Council and the New Hampshire High-Technology Council. "It's not about getting a job," he said, "it's about getting the job you want to get."

And, Lopez said, "Internships nowadays are increasingly becoming the best way to find the job of your dreams."

More than 200 companies have posted opportunities on the project's Web site (intern2careernh.com); about 35 percent are for internships, the rest for "first career" jobs.

Lopez noted some employers are creating partnerships with New Hampshire colleges and universities to find prospective employees; a good example is Public Service of New Hampshire.

Ordinarily, he said, "Turnover at PSNH is extremely low; you have to wait for someone to retire to have an opening at that company." So PSNH has created a partnership with UNH, offering paid internships that can evolve into permanent jobs.

The state Department of Transportation also works with UNH to recruit students.

David Wood, a recruiter with the DOT, said the department offers mentoring and internship programs to give engineering students on-the-job experience while they're in college, and to entice them to stay on once they graduate.

Four out of 10 DOT engineers are eligible to retire in the next several years, Wood noted. That's why he visits New Hampshire high schools and colleges to try to convince students to go into engineering.

"A lot of our major highways were built in the 1960s and '70s, and a lot of the people we hired back then are now getting ready to retire," he said. "At the same time, those highways we built then are in need of repairs."

He currently has three openings for entry-level civil engineers. "We've got more work coming at us and fewer people to do it."

Entry level

Kimberly Smith, regional recruiting manager for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, said her company hires more graduates straight out of college than any other company in the United States. "We hire goal-oriented and goal-achieving folks, and I think that one of the biggest goals you can work for is getting your bachelor's degree," she said.

Everyone starts at the same entry-level management position to learn the business from the ground up; the company promotes entirely from within.

Smith, who expects to hire about 45 2008 college graduates for Enterprise's 34 offices in New Hampshire this year, has noticed the candidate pool is bigger than in the past. "It's a heck of a lot easier to hire people this year, I'll say that," she said.

Alysia Brooks of Manchester, who just graduated from the University of New Hampshire at Manchester, started her new job at one of Enterprise's Queen City offices last week.

She went through four interviews to land the position. "The more I heard about the job, the more I fell in love with it," she said.

Brooks said she feels lucky to have found a job in her field, business management; many of her friends are still looking. "You post your resume, you call around, but it seems like there's not a whole lot out there," she said.

And that's a lot different from how it was for her friends who graduated just a few years ago, Brooks said. "They all have jobs doing what they want to do," she said. "We're graduating and we're all trying to find a place to call our home."

PSU's DellaGrotte said some of his classmates who put off their job searches until the last minute aren't having the same success.

"I think what really helped me was keeping a broad spectrum of where I wanted to go," he said. "I applied to places all over the place. If you're not willing to travel, that obviously shortens your prospects."

Indeed, the NHCUC's Horgan said, graduates looking for their first career positions in this economy may need to be flexible.

"They may not get the great job right out of the box that they had hoped to get, but they need to be realistic and recognize that it's a little more competitive this year than in past years," he said.

"So being flexible, and being willing to take on perhaps a wider array of jobs than they would have in the past, is probably going to be key to finding that first job."